It’s only fair, Democrats

Our opinion: When the line between politics and lobbying is blurred, why not err on the side of clarity?

When the state Democratic committee launches a glowing ad campaign about Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “Tax Free New York” proposal and urges citizens to call their legislators to urge them to pass it, is it (A.) politicking or (B.) lobbying?

Or might it be (C.) both?

The latter answer admittedly complicates life for the Democratic Party. But so what? A party that casts itself as the champion of electoral and ethical reform should be glad to do it’s part for transparency.

Instead, it rejects the idea.

In fairness, the Democratic Party will probably not be alone on this. The New York Public Interest Research Group used the Democrats as an example in a complaint to the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics, asking it to look into lobbying activity by all parties. There may be plenty of multi-partisan howling coming down the road.

But NYPIRG picked the most currently conspicuous target in singling out the New York State Democratic Committee in a complaint to JCOPE. The party has been openly promoting Mr. Cuomo’s agenda — and therein lies an important distinction. Promoting Mr. Cuomo is politics. Promoting his agenda is lobbying. One is to get someone elected, the other is to persuade government to do something.

For politics, we have election law and the reporting requirements that come with it. For lobbying, there is a different set of laws and reporting requirements.

Perhaps more importantly, for politics, the watchdog is an impotent state Board of Elections, controlled by the two major parties and seemingly indifferent to public opinion. For lobbying, there’s JCOPE, a more independent body that is under intense pressure to prove its effectiveness. Mr. Cuomo and legislative leaders, who created JCOPE, have a more direct interest in its success or failure.

So requiring political parties to report to JCOPE on their spending on lobbying-style campaigns suddenly adds a much greater degree of scrutiny than parties have endured — or, should we say, enjoyed — from the Board of Elections.

And yes, it means a whole new pile of paperwork, but it also adds a measure of public accountability that’s important when anyone — a business group, a citizen’s organization, or a political party — tries to influence public policy, which quite often comes at the public’s expense in one way or another. It’s of public interest how much money is being spent, and who is behind all these feel-good sounding groups like New Yorkers for Economic Growth, New Yorkers for Immigration Reform and New Yorkers for Education Reform — all creations of the state Democratic Party.

Democrats have long sought to portray themselves as the party of good government. Here’s a chance for the party to embrace its ideals, not fight them the moment they come home to roost.

2 Responses

If NYPIRG is really concerned they should be focused on the Working Families Party and the labor groups that support them. The WFP candidate survey requires candidates to support legislation to secure the party line. This “trading” of support is lobbying. This practice is more offensive than running ads.

Kudos to Blair Horner and Russ Haven at NYPIRG, and to the TU Editorial page, for pointing out the hypocrisy of exempting the blatant lobbying that is done by political parties. Yes, political parties have every right to promote their positions, but when they spend money to urge the passage or defeat of legislation, that is the very definition of LOBBYING. For political parties to claim the rules don’t apply to them is absurd. Where in the law does it say they are exempted? It is particularly appalling that the political party that claims to champion campaign finance reform, and position itself as the proponent of good govenment, seems adamant in refusing to comply with the rules that apply to everyone else who runs ads promoting the passage of a bill. “Do as I say, not as I do” is not the best position for those who claim to champion “reform”. Will JCOPE have the courage to act on NYPIRG’s complaint? Hmmm – who appointed them???